Senior Extrusion Consultant Al Okerson
Consulting assignments for general management, Plant site and/or relocation assistance, PVC or composite formulation/blending/manufacturing, profile/film extrusion to help achieve improved bottom line performance of a progressive manufacturing company. Strong professional manager with extensive experience in all business functions. Experienced in TQM, JIT, SPC, PPM, Kanban, Participative Team Management and Self Directed Work Teams. Capital budget and variable expense control specialist. Experienced in union, and non-union environments. Facility location, product design & development, finance, contract, construction and startup experience.
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- Expert on PVC formulation
- Strong understanding of blending in PVC and other materials
- Specialist in plastic extrusion of profile and film applications
- Product design expert in the plastics industry
- Ability to work in multiple different business life stages
Experience
Private Practice
January 1994 - Present
Managing Member
PlyGem Industries Inc, Kearney, MO
August 1989 - January 1994
General Manager
Alcoa Buildint Products, South Bend, IN
September 1984 - August 1989
Plant Manager
Experience Diagraph Corporation, Earth City, MO
May 1981 – August 1984
Operations Manager
Combustion Engineering, Glass Division, Lancaster, OH
June 1980 – May 1981
Plant Manager
Permaneer Corporation, Union, MO
February 1970 – February 1977
Technical Manager
Private Practice
January 1994 - Present
Managing Member
- Co-owner of a small engineering design and sales organization which supplies manufacturing tooling and equipment to the plastics industry.
- Responsible for all aspects of company operations.
PlyGem Industries Inc, Kearney, MO
August 1989 - January 1994
General Manager
- Senior operations manager of a $108 million vinyl building products manufacturing company.
- Responsible for three manufacturing facilities, Personnel, R & D, Corporate Purchasing, Engineering and Tool and Die.
- Major participant in strategic planning and implementation of all business activities including sales and marketing.
- Selected the site and managed all engineering design, construction and startup of a $7 million ‘state of the art’ vinyl building products production facility.
- This facility is currently operating at 200% of average industry rates with significant improvements in product quality, material yields and conversion costs.
- Lead the implementation of TQM, JIT, PPM, and employee based training.
- Supervised the development and administration of variable and capital budgets.
- Lead the negotiation of major raw material contracts resulting in an annual savings in excess of $1.5 million.
- Arranged Tennessee infrastructure grants of $500,000. Negotiated tax abatement program that saved $2.7 million.
Alcoa Buildint Products, South Bend, IN
September 1984 - August 1989
Plant Manager
- Managed a 375,000 square foot building products manufacturing and distribution facility with 300 hourly employees and a staff of 35 management people.
- Negotiated two contracts with UAW, without strike or slowdown.
- Member Mayor’s Human Rights Advisory Council.
- Developed and administered $4.5 million machinery modernization plan.
- Supervised 127,000 square foot plant expansion.
- Negotiated change in Economic Enterprise Zone boundary, first time done in state of Indiana, exempted all inventory from Indiana inventory tax, saving $80,000 annually.
- Obtained tax abatement which saved $900,000.
- Implemented SPC and employee based training programs.
- Negotiated with city to build $320,000 access road which was fully funded by the state of Indiana.
Experience Diagraph Corporation, Earth City, MO
May 1981 – August 1984
Operations Manager
- Complete responsibility from property selection to start-up and operation of electronic assembly facility.
- Sourced all vendors for manufacture of industrial high speed dot-matrix printer, computer control systems and peripherals.
- Recruited and arranged proper training for all personnel.
- Provided engineering support for world wide marketing group.
- Implemented MAPICS remote location data base on IBM 38.
- Started production at facility ahead of schedule and on budget.
Combustion Engineering, Glass Division, Lancaster, OH
June 1980 – May 1981
Plant Manager
- Full P&L responsibility for glass conversion and tempering plant.
- New glass products for architectural, automotive and appliance applications were developed, manufactured and marketed.
- Recruited marketing personnel to market several new products.
- In first three months in this position production volume increased 40% and all employees who were previously on lay-off status were recalled to work.
- Plant made first profit in three years at end of first quarter.
Permaneer Corporation, Union, MO
February 1970 – February 1977
Technical Manager
- As Technical Manager, was responsible for product development and process control of five plants.
- Developed cellular PVC product which resulted in construction of new plant in a joint venture with Georgia Pacific Corporation.
- As Production Manager was responsible for an architectural molding plant with twenty extrusion lines.
Education
- Paducah Junior College, Paducah,KY
- Washington University, St. Louis, MO
- American Management Association
- Four Week Management Graduate
- Psychological Associates, St. Louis, MO
- Dimensional Management Seminars
Professional Affiliations
- Society of Manufacturing Engineers - Senior Member
- Society of Plastics Engineers Former member of Paradigm Group (A group of Kansas City area executives networking for TQM)
Contact Al